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Indiegogo

ORLANDO, Fla.—Westinghouse Security’s Nucli smart lock raised $90,000 in two weeks on crowdfunding site Indiegogo, far surpassing its goal of $50,000. At the same time, Indiegogo is affording Nucli principals insights into what potential customers want in a smart lock.

Canary, a New York City startup with what it bills as the “the first smart home security device for everyone,” has managed to raise nearly $2 million in 35 days from prospective customers and supporters through crowdfunding.

The company’s experience suggests this is a funding approach other security companies may want to take a look at.

I wrote about Canary—which is both the name of the company and the home security device it sells—back in July when it launched the campaign on Indiegogo. Like a canary in a coal mine, the company was trying to see how much support it could garner from crowdfunding and set its goal at a modest $100,000.

But it exceeded that on the first day. Now, with the campaign recently concluded, Canary has raised a total of $1,961,494 from 7,460 funders, according to Indiegogo’s site. Most paid to receive one or more of the devices when they’re made and shipped early next year, but 123 people paid $5 each just as supporters of the product who want to be kept updated on it as it goes into production.

Was Canary’s crowdfunding experience unusual? According to a website called Android Police, the answer is "yes." Here’s what was recently written about Canary on that site:

Relying on crowdfunding is inherently risky. Regardless of whether a project's on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, some never get a fraction of the funding they aim for. Others fall slightly short or, if they're lucky, barely manage to crawl over the finish line. Still, a select few completely blow the doors off. The Canary [is one of them].

Now, is this because Canary is truly the unique product it's billed to be or do crowdfunders just really like home security? Time will tell us the answer, I guess.

NEW YORK—Canary is the name of a security startup here—and like a canary in a coal mine the company has been testing this week to see if it could raise enough money through crowdfunding to launch what has been dubbed as “the first affordable home security system that can think for itself.” The answer is a resounding yes.